An Instant
by MuchTooHighACost
Summary: "Who told you, Rhodey or Pepper?"


**This idea came to me when I realized that both Rhodes and Pepper know about the arc reactor in Tony's chest before the scene where he reveals it to Obadiah. ("Who told you, Rhodey or Pepper?") Presumably, they both find out rather quickly, as I've always assumed that the scene with Obadiah takes place very closely following the press conference. I thought it would be nice to see the scene in which Pepper finds out. This is my first Iron Man story, so let me know what you think. Thanks for reading!**

* * *

For an instant, it was almost as if nothing had changed. Almost. Pepper Potts sat down in the back of the Rolls Royce and felt her entire body relax. Her back melted into the leather seat, the expensive material giving gently beneath the equally expensive threads of her trousers. Tony was home. Safe, beside her. Of course she was overjoyed to see him. In the normal way that anyone who thought their boss was dead would be. But ever since she thought Tony was gone forever, Pepper had started thinking about him a lot, and realized that maybe she cared for him a little more than a good employee should.

For an instant, she let herself imagine that she was more than an employee to him. She imagined throwing her arms around him like she'd wanted to do and burying her nose in the crook of his neck. She could almost feel his left arm, the one not in the sling when he'd exited the plane, come up around her waist and squeeze her tight, holding her to him in a moment that was theirs and theirs alone.

Then, as quickly as it had begun, the vision dissipated and was replaced with the present, running full speed ahead and not looking back. She was glad to be given some ridiculously insurmountable task, like calling a press conference _thirty minutes_ after her boss had just returned from captivity overseas if it meant that he was alive and safe.

Pepper hung up the phone and heaved a sigh. "Well, it's all been arranged. I hope you're not going to make a habit of this, I can't just throw something together like this last minute—"

"You just did, what's the problem?" Tony asked. Pepper knew from his tone that the question was rhetorical, but her boss had already moved on. He turned now to his chauffer, who was about to pull into the parking lot of a Burger King, and said, "Happy, go to the one on Santa Monica. The drive-thru people at this one are rude."

As Happy did a 180, Pepper said, "I don't understand, Tony. Why now? You just got back, don't you want to rest, just for a second?"

"Resting is the last thing I want to do."

"You were just in captivity for three months."

"I have to do this, Pepper."

"Tony, I don't understand—"

"Of course you don't," he snapped. "You weren't there so how could you possibly understand?"

His words were sharp, but there was no accusation in his tone, no malice. Even so, the simple statement of fact was enough to shock Pepper into silence. Of course she knew that he must have seen awful, horrible things while he was in captivity. How could she have been so flippant at a time like this? Tears pricked the corners of her eyes, threatening to spill over, just as they had for the past 48 hours, ever since she'd heard the news—the miracle—that Tony had been found.

"I'm sorry," she said, sounding more breathy than she'd meant to.

"Don't worry about it," Tony said, running a hand through his hair. She wasn't sure, but it looked like his hand was shaking.

The car slowed to a stop in the Burger King drive-thru and Tony leaned across Pepper to speak into the microphone. She tried not to inhale his scent, but she let herself take the tiniest whiff. He smelled like skin and the faintest hint of cologne. She'd just ordered him a new shipment before he'd gone away, and the box sat unopened at the mansion for weeks. She'd never thrown it out, hoping beyond hope that he would need it again one day.

"Hi, welcome to Burger King, may I take your order?" The harsh chirping of the drive-thru attendant snapped Pepper back to reality.

"Yes you may," Tony drawled, and Pepper rolled her eyes. "Three Whoppers with cheese, please."

The girl sounded slightly taken aback. "Would you like to make those meals, or just the burgers?"

"Just the burgers, extra pickles."

"We'll see you at the second window. Have a great day, and thank you for choosing Burger King."

Tony leaned back to return to his seat at the same time that Pepper leaned forward to roll up the window, and her hand collided with his chest. But instead of the firm, yielding muscle she was expecting, she met metal and cried out.

"Oh my God!"

"Careful!"

Pepper looked at him in disbelief, rubbing her sore knuckles. "What the hell was that? Are you wearing a bulletproof vest?"

"Not exactly," Tony said, wincing as he held his chest.

"Then what is it?" Pepper's heart was pounding in her ears. When she'd found out that Tony had gone missing months ago, she thought she'd never hear worse news in her life. But the look on his face now told her that maybe she was about to hear something equally as awful.

"Don't freak out, Potts," he said, unbuttoning his suit jacket, and then beginning to loosen his tie.

"When you say that, it only makes me freak out more," Pepper said, her voice shaking as his hands had done earlier. She'd never seen him look so vulnerable.

"Believe me, you're not the only one," Tony intoned dryly.

The divider between the front and back seats slid open and Happy passed the bag of burgers through. Tony paused to thank his chauffer and took the bag. Then he went back to unbuttoning his shirt.

"Over in Afghanistan," he began slowly, "when our convoy was attacked, I was injured."

"Oh my God—" Pepper began, her minding making the worst of the situation. Images of a wounded Tony flashed through her mind, him lying on his back calling for help with not a soul in sight for miles across the desert…

"Will you just let me finish?" he snapped, unwrapping the first burger. He spoke through a mouthful of meat and cheese. "Shrapnel was embedded into my chest and the man who found me was able to keep it from reaching my heart by putting a device into my chest—"

"A _device_?" Pepper knew her high-pitched voice must be maddeningly frustrating, but she couldn't help herself. This was the craziest thing she'd ever heard.

Tony shut his eyes and took a bite of his cheeseburger before continuing. "I modified the device, using technology my father developed back in the seventies, something called an arc reactor—"

"The arc reactor!" It wasn't even a question; the words expelled from her mouth. She knew exactly what the technology was, and she knew it didn't belong anywhere near a human body, much less _inside _one.

"Just relax, will you?" Tony finished the first cheeseburger and unwrapped the second one as his assistant gaped in horror at him. "Relax."

He pulled his shirt open and Pepper gasped. "Oh, Tony!—Oh my… does it hurt?"

"No. I know exactly what I'm doing."

Pepper stared in awe at the glowing blue piece in his chest. It was literally _in _his chest. She'd never seen anything like it, not in all her years with Stark Industries. While she gazed, she couldn't help but let her eyes wander to the left and right, at his fine pectorals, and down, where the last few buttons of his shirt hid an amazing set of abdominals, if she remembered correctly. She'd seen him shirtless before, of course, but never quite this close. It was overpowering.

She cleared her throat. "I'm sure you do," she mumbled, in response to his statement. "Now… cover yourself back up. We're almost there."

Tony gave her a crooked smile and shrugged. "Have it your way," he said, shaking the Burger King bag.

"Ha, ha," Pepper said, rolling her eyes.

As Tony redressed himself, he said, "This doesn't leave the car, Pepper. Not until I make a statement about it, understood? You can't tell anyone, not Obadiah, not even Rhodey—actually, I'll tell Rhodey."

"You should know by now that I can keep a secret, Mr. Stark," Pepper said with a wicked grin. "I'm still the only one who knows who you spent Christmas Eve of 1998 with."

"This is different than the Lewinsky thing," Tony said, pointing a finger at her.

"Understood," Pepper said, and turned to look out the window. _He's back_, she thought, her heart soaring. _He's back._


End file.
